There is a lot of regional variation within Bernese German dialects. However, with the increasing importance of the big agglomeration of Bern, the variety of Bern is spreading out, levelling the old village dialects. Until the second half of the 20th century, there was a considerable range of sociolects in the city of Bern where four different groups could be distinguished:
The patrician Bernese German of the high society. It has neither l-vocalisation nor nd-velarisation, it does not employ the alveolar trill but the French uvular trill, and it has more French loanwords than the other varieties.
The variety of the native city population.
The varieties of the countryside people who moved into the city.
The variety of the – generally poor – people living in the part of the old town called Matte, known as Mattenenglisch, even though it has little relation with English, but has a number of loans from Jenisch, Rotwelsch and Yiddish. In addition to it, there was also a special kind of Pig Latin which is the proper Mattenenglisch according to some people.
Phonology
Bernese German is distinguished from other Swiss German dialects by the following characteristics:
The shortening of many high vowels, e.g. Zyt 'time', Lüt 'people', lut 'loud' instead of the long vowel typical in other Alemannic dialects, e.g. Zurich German Ziit, Lüüt, luut .
The l-vocalization, e.g. Hauue 'hall', Esu 'donkey' instead of Halle, Esel. This has led to an expanded repertoire of diphthongs and triphthongs, e.g. euter 'older', Seeu 'soul', Schueu 'school'.
The velarization of nd to ng, e.g. angers 'different'. The many words ending with -ng created the joke that Bernese sounds almost like Chinese: Schang gang hei, d Ching wei Hung 'Schang go home, the kids want honey'.
As in other Western High Alemannic dialects, words such as Fleisch 'flesh' and Oug 'eye' are pronounced with the diphthongs and, and not and.
Like other Swiss German dialects, but unlike modern standard German, Bernese German typically keeps the original grammatical gender distinction in the numerals 'two' and 'three' :
zwee Manne, masculine
zwo Froue, feminine
zwöi Ching, neuter
... but only 2 words for "three" :
drei Manne u drei Fraue
drü Ching neuter
Vocabulary
A lot of the vocabulary known as typical to Bernese German comes from the Mattenenglisch, e.g. Gieu 'boy', Modi 'girl'. The best known shibboleths of Bernese German may be the words äuä 'no way' or 'probably', ieu 'yes', geng 'always'. Bernese typically say mängisch for the German manchmal. An often used word at the end of a sentence is a question tag, "gäu" or "gäuet" meaning 'isn't it?', whereas other Swiss German dialects prefer "oder", like 'or what?'.
Äuä
Äuä is a typical shibboleth of Bernese German. There are two different uses:
Modal particle: Within a declarative sentence, this word can be used as a German modal particle, connoting that the speaker is only assuming what they are telling, but still quite certain about it. This is very similar to the meaning of the German modal particle. Example:
* Si chunt äuä gly.
‘ she is going to come soon.’ The modal particle is also used in the following sequences of modal particles: äuä scho, äuä de scho. Both sequences give more emphasis to the certainty of the speaker.
Pro-sentence: Like many German modal particles, this word can also be used as a pro-sentence. Originally, it was used as an affirmative response with similar connotations to the modal particle. However, this meaning is hardly ever used any more. It is almost exclusively used to give a negative answer connotating subjective disbelief. This meaning has developed from an ironic use. Depending on the intonation, the meaning can vary from very strong disbelief to surprised slight disbelief. Examples:
‘Did you hear? AC/DC split up! – No, really?’ Bernese comedian Massimo Rocchi used äuä as the title for one of his shows, which derives much of its comical effect from the bewilderment an outsider experiences when first confronted with the idiosyncrasies of Bernese German.
Bernese German literature
Although Bernese German is mainly a spoken language, there is a relatively extensive literature which goes back to the beginnings of the 20th century. Bernese German grammars and dictionaries also exist.
The 2014 film Der Goalie bin ig , whose dialogue is in Bernese German, was a major winner at the 2014 Swiss Film Awards with seven nominations from which it won four trophies including Best Feature Film. The film, directed by Sabine Boss, was adapted from the novelDer Goalie bin ig by Pedro Lenz. The film played at the Locarno Film Festival in August 2014. In the 2012 Swiss film, More Than Honey, two Swiss beekeepers describe beekeeping techniques between each other about limiting bee swarms in "As we say in Bernese German: No more beekeeping with a ladder on my back".
